Of all things love is the most potent.
Mission
Happiness comes from love we have for ourselves, others and from trusting our own path in life
Together we create an environment where we feel safe, free and loved, where children have their voice. With joy and without stress, we learn from one another and inspire ourselves to examine all the colours of life.
Through mutual respect and joint learning, work and everyday living, we get to know not only the world, but also ourselves; we discover and develop our true potential and direction. We learn for ourselves and for life, and we enjoying being together every day.
We are a small school
Everyone
knows each
other's name!
knows each
other's name!
Teachers
talk to you
daily.
talk to you
daily.
You can
come to class
and observe, how
we work.
come to class
and observe, how
we work.
You can get
involved!
involved!
We are creative!
Children
enjoy coming
here!
enjoy coming
here!
We learn
through playing,
with curiosity
and joy.
through playing,
with curiosity
and joy.
We don't
just learn facts,
we learn to think,
experiment and
explore.
just learn facts,
we learn to think,
experiment and
explore.
We learn
to find our own
solutions.
to find our own
solutions.
We are multicultural!
Children
meet different
nationalities
here.
meet different
nationalities
here.
Native
speakers speak
English with them
from the earliest
age.
speakers speak
English with them
from the earliest
age.
Everything
is done through
natural
communication.
is done through
natural
communication.
We are based on Montessori teaching methods.
The most important thing for us is our relationship with each child and the love for their uniqueness.
Our graduates...
They value themselves, they know who they are and where they want to go in life
They are not afraid to express themselves, their thoughts, opinions and dreams
They are able to cooperate and make joint decisions
They are interested in the world, ask big questions and look for answers
They respect others and listen to their opinions
They have the confidence and courage to live and look forward to their journey
Our teachers...
Passing on their knowledge and experience is their mission and passion
They listen to the children and create ways for them to understand life and the world
They discover and appreciate the uniqueness of each child
They sensitively lead each child to develop their potential
They see mistakes as a tool for development and growth
They are constantly learning, through self-reflection, from each other and most of all from our children
Working on something we do not care about is called stress. Working on what we love is passion.
Our parents...
They trust their children and their natural desire to learn
They give children time and space to develop at their own pace
They don't need to constantly supervise, they don't need to compare
They encourage interest and intrinsic motivation, not rewards and punishments
They appreciate authenticity, creative thinking and cooperation
Above all, they want happy children who find their own path
Our story
Autumn 2005
Our first daughter, whose name means star. I've prepared and studied for everything. Only no one prepared me for the first look into her eyes. How can such a great being, deep, fragile and sensitive, yet so strong and courageous, look out from such a small face? So what is my job as a mother anyway? What can I do to keep her that way?
Summer 2009
Our four-year-old Ester is in a Montessori preschool, but something there is missing. Our one-year-old Alex follows her everywhere. After years as a journalist and then maternity leave, I'm a PR consultant for a political party. I'm sick of it. And my husband Vojta can't stand my perpetual dreaming: "I'll get you a loan, just shut up already."
In the autumn we get a real fairy-tale house with windows to the forest. Then for six months I run around with a tape measure, measuring friends' kids and looking for the perfect little furniture so they can reach everything. We open in January 2010.
Our first real client is Filip, he is one and a half years old and he won't let go of my hand. After two months, for the first time, he manages to cross the classroom by himself to throw away a tissue. I can still remember the look of triumph on his face.
He stays with us until 5th grade, then goes to high school, outgrows me, and is the happiest when he plays the saxophone. I see some of his friends every day until 9th grade. We discuss the meaning of life, society, politics and human rights, I teach them square roots and functions and they teach me social networking.
And occasionally, their two-year-old likenesses flash before my eyes. The almost grown-ups of today were already in them then. I'm incredibly happy that they haven't faded, that they're shining more and more.
P.S.: Thank you to our little willows Ester and Alex and all the other children I have ever met for everything they have taught me. And thank you to my husband Vojta Vrba for sticking with me through every difficult moment and for standing by me to this day.
Spring 2014
We're preparing an elementary school, we don't want to say goodbye to preschoolers every year anymore. The first enrolment foreshadows what the upcoming year looks like: a puzzle game in the Hrnčíře meadows, a journey back in time through Charles IV, ancient Rome and Egypt to prehistoric times. The stone bust of Tutankhamun we dug up that day still looks over us from the history shelf.
The first graders learn to read, write and count through stories about the Big Bang, the origins of Earth, the evolution of life on Earth and the arrival of humans. It all comes incredibly easily and naturally. The universe captivates them so much that they learn division within a month so they can paint the classroom with planets at precisely calculated distances.
Our first year resembles homeschooling. Eleven happy children, excited parents and endless meadows behind the house. The biggest adventures take place while climbing the willow tree and jumping over the winding stream out back. Mud is a ubiquitous sign of our conquering of the wilderness.
We write the alphabet on small blackboards and learn English from six-year-old Dan with his foxy smile, third-grader Tom, who speaks Mandarin, and Montessori teacher and philosopher Vishu, who speaks the language of the Bhagavad Gita.
During breaks, I listen to Nina talk about how one day this will be a school with a student-led business, housing and a mini farm. A place where teens realize themselves through real projects and work that will help them build self-worth and independence.
I'm excited by this vision and I start planning community living and a permaculture garden. The only problem will be taking care of the animals over the holidays, as we definitely want to travel. It's all beautiful and crazy and I don't really believe it will happen, but I want to be a part of it.
May 2022
Our eighth school year is ending, light years have passed since our "big bang". It's amazing to me how much we've all grown up. It's hard to keep up with kids who aren't kids anymore, especially when skating on the tarmac by the woods.
They are the ones pushing us the most right now, bringing new inspirations and topics. The difficulties of us, young democratic systems, and the world, all growing up together. We survived the pandemic either online, in our apartments, or at the farm.
We took part in Montessori courses for working with adolescents and connected with other schools in foreign countries. We are about to start our first Erasmus in Portugal. And most importantly, a change is happening that our oldest are really looking forward to: studying, working and sometimes living in a new place that will be all theirs.
Growth, overcoming obstacles, and a hunger for new solutions and the highest possible quality are inherent to our school culture. I am immensely proud of our oldest students, who are maturing into amazingly strong and versatile individuals with healthy self-critical insights, and who are far beyond their average age as independent thinking beings. They are the ones who give meaning to all our striving and struggling.
